Electrical switch-lock.



No. 726,361. PATENTED APR. 28, 1903.

G. A. SHEA.

ELECTRICAL SWITCH LOCK.

APPLIGATION FILED FEB. 12. 1902.

N0 MODEL.

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CHRISTOPHER A. SHEA, OF I PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE AUTOMATIC TRAIN CONTROLLER COMPANY OF NEH V JERSEY.

ELECTRICALTSWITCH-LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 726,361, dated April 28, 1903.

Application filed February 12, 1902. Serial No. 93,760. (No model.)

To all 1071 071 it TIL/1,7] concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTOPHER A. SHEA,

a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical SwitchLucks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to railway switches; and it consists of features fully set forth in the following specification and accompanying drawings, forming part thereof.

The object of my invention is to automatically and electrically lock the switch mechanism of a railway-track.

It consists, broadly, of a contact-arm carried by the engine, a contact-rail for said arm located in the path of the engine, an electrical circuit opened and closed, respectively, by the said arm being disengaged or engaged with the said contact. In this circuit are the necessary batteries, magnets, armatures, and relays necessary to carry out the function of my invention, as will be more at length explained hereinafter.

In the drawings like parts are referred to by marks or figures of a corresponding kind in both views.

i Figure l is a general plan of my invention 0 as applied to a switch. Fig. 2 is the same as applied to a drawbridge.

1 is the contact carried by the train or englue.

2 is the contact-rail. This contact is made up in sections, as 2 and 13 in Fig. 1, and 2 and 15in Fig. 2.

3 is a battery.

3 and 3 are line conductors carrying the electrical current from car-axle 8 to relay 9 0 and to contact-arm.

5 is an electromagnet.

4 is a line conductor carrying the current from contact 2' to electromagnet 5 Fig. 1.

6 is a conductor carrying the current to rail 7 and truck-'8 back to battery3.

17 is an armature, andl5 is an electro magnet.

18 is a spring carried by the armature 10 22 and 23 are contacting arms carried by the switch-rails 33 and 32 and adapted to contact with the contacts therefor, 21 and 24;, respectively.

direction indicated by the arrows. contact should be broken, the current would 5 whistle the train proceeds forward. The arm 1 then contacts with rail. 2. Thereby is sent a current of electricity from battery 3 through wire 4 to magnet 5 and back by wire 6 to rail 7, truck 8 to battery 3 through relay 9 The armature 10 of magnet 5 will be thus magnetically attracted to this magnet, and as this armature is pivoted at O and carries an integral projection 20 this projection will engage with the arm 12 of the switch mechanism. The switch is now locked and cannot, therefore, be thrown open, as the armature 17 prevents it. After the train has safely passed over and beyond the switch the contact-arm 1 rides on the rail 13 and sends a current from battery to electromagnet 15 through wire 14 and back to rail 7 by wire 16 and through truck 8 to battery This will cause the armature 17 of the electromagnet 15 to be pulled down, whereupon the armature 10 being thus unlocked or released from its contact with the end of armature 17 the energy stored in the spring 18 will pull the armature 20 10 toward the point of said spring-contact, and thus release its engagement with the arm 12' of the switch mechanism. The switch will now be free to be moved and canbe operated, if necessary.

Contact-plate 21 and contact-piece 22 are provided to obviate an accident if the switch itself should be broken. The electric current from battery 3 flows via these contacts in the If the not flow. Contacts 23 and 24 perform similar functions when the switch has been thrown open to allow a-trainto enter the siding.

In Fig. 1, 31 represents a car standing on a siding sufficiently far down the track to per- :10 mit the end of the said car to project over the main line. In this position an accident I would be possible by a train running on the main line striking such projecting car.

accident from this cause is provided against by wiring the insulated section of the track 38 through wire 39 to the main track 7. Un-

' der these circumstances the current will flow as indicated by the arrows, and the train would be brought to astop because the trackcircuit would be short-circuited through the car-trucks 31.

Fig. 2 shows a device to prevent an accident due to an open drawbridge. It is practically the same, but a modified application of all the features set out in my invention as shown in Fig. 1.

We will assume that the train is moving on, that the drawbridge is closed, and the track is safe, but by accident or design the drawbridge is opened without a signal to the engineer. An accident is thus possible. This modified application obviates such otherwise unavoidable accident, and its operation is as follows: The current is sent from battery 3 through arm 1, contact-rail 2 to rail 1, to the rails on the bridge, and thence to the rails on the other side of the bridge, and via wires 5 and 6 to eleotromagnet 7 and back to battery 3. This currentwill pull down armature to which is affixed a locking-rod 9, adapted to engage in the teeth of the gear 10 or similarly to arrest some prime part which controls the rotation of the bridge. This locking-bar is retained in its position as to lateral motion by the guides therefor, 11 and 12; but rectilinear motion is permitted. The armature which controls the lock 9 will be locked in position by the armature 13 dropping behind it, thus preventing the armature 80 from rising. -After the train has passed over the bridge and beyond it it will send a current through contact 15, wire 16 and 17, and electromagnet 18, which will pull the armature 13 in disengagement from armature 80, and thus Withdraw the lock 9 from the gear 10. The bridge can then be opened or operated. In this way it will not be possible to operate the drawbridge once the train has entered the section and the signal given to the engineer to have his train proceed. The bridge is indicated in Fig. 2 at B and the intermediate gear at O.

In this specification when I speak of batteries I of course mean any source of electrical energy, and whenI speak of relays I donotlimit myself to specific structure. They can be electromagnets, solenoids, motors, or any other electric mechanism that has a moving part. I likewise do not limit myself to any specific structure in the contact-rail. The said rail can be a rail, a plate, a sheet, or a wire or similar piece.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination in a switch-locking mechanism of a contact carried by the train, a fixed contact in the trains path, the former contact adapted to engage the latter, a trackswitch, a lockfor said switch, and an electrical circuit opened and closed by said contact and whereby the said switch-lock and its lock is operated as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination in a switch-locking mechanism of a contact carried by the train, a fixed contact in the trains path, the former contact adapted to engage the latter, an electrical circuit, a switch-lock, a lock for said switch-lock, a magnet, an armature whereby said armature actuates said switch-lock and its look as and for the purpose set out.

3. In a railway-switch-locking mechanism a switch-tongue, hand-controlled means for moving same, a connecting-link between said tongue and lock and electrical circuit operating said look, a lock for said lock and an electrical circuit controlling said secondary look, as and for the purpose set forth.

4:. The combination in a switch-controlling mechanism of a switch tongue, hand-controlled means for actuating same, a lock for said tongue, a line-contact, a source of electrical energy, an electrical circuit embracing as a conductor the said line-contact and said electrical circuit operating the said look, a lock or arrester for said lock, a secondary or supplemental line-contact and an electrical circuit embracing the secondaryline-contact as a conductor, as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The combination in a switch mechanism of aswitch-tongue, hand-controlled means for manipulating the said tongue, a lock for said tongue, means carried by the train for actuating the said lock electrically, a lock for said switch-lock and means carried by the train for actuating the said latter lock electrically, thereby unlocking the switch, as and for the purpose set forth.

6. The combination in a switch mechanism of a switch-tongue, a lock therefor, hand-controlled means for actuating said switch and electromagnetic means for holding said means in a fixed position after it has been hand-thrown.

7. The combination in a switch mechanism of a switch-tongue, hand-controlled means for actuating same, a lock for said means, an electromagnetic circuit for controlling said look, a lock for said lock and an electromagnetic circuit for controlling the said supplemental lock, as and for the purpose set forth.

Signed by me this 10th day of February, 1902.

CHRISTOPHER A. SHEA.

Witnesses:

HOMER A. HERB, ALLEN O. MIDDLETON. 

